Bleeding Maple
by Sora Moto
Summary: What if Canada tried to kill himself and failed. Winding up with amnesia and unaware that he is a nation, he is hardly even missed by the other nations.
1. Chapter 1

I give fair warning this is very dark and rather graphic, well for me it seems it is anyway. Screw it you came this fair enjoy.

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Tears fell from blue-violet eyes as he felt the blade cut deep into his wrist. He drew it up his arm, almost to his elbow. He switches hands and does the same to the other arm. As the warm red flowed from the wounds freely he drops the razor. He wonders how long he'll be left on the floor of his bathroom before someone finds the body. Its not like anyone cared about him. His vision begins to swim and blacken at the edges. He feels so tired. The sound of the front door opening registers to his mind as his eyes drift closed. Oh right, the housekeeper he hired to help him clean was coming over today. She calls for him he thinks and he lets more tears roll from his eyes as he looses consciousness.

Jeanne Rivers worked for a maid company. One of those small run out of home type places. She liked her job especially since she had the pleasure of being the one that went over to Matthew William's home. The young bachelor was always a pleasure to work for since he tended to help out with the cleaning and always made her pancakes as a thank you. She knew that his family tended to forget him, even the people he worked with would forget him. He said he felt invisible to them but she couldn't figure out how anyone could overlook the cute Canadian. She made sure to tell him that when ever he started to get depressed about things.

Over time the two became close friends and would even get together from time to time for things other than cleaning Matthew's home. Jeanne did find it odd that Matthew never spoke much about his job or family aside from in passing. She knew he had a brother who he worked with and his father worked in the same office as well but beyond that she had no clue. She did know he hated how they all forgot him. She had come over once for his birthday, funny it was also Canada Day. She had brought him a cake in his favorite colors and had gotten him some hockey gear. When she got to his house he had opened the door and she had gave him a warm 'Happy birthday!' He had forced a smile but she could tell he had just been crying. When he invited her in she noticed he was alone. She asked him where his family was and he just smiled a sad smile and told her, "They must have forgotten me." It had nearly made her cry to hear the accepted defeat in his voice at his family forgetting him on his birthday.

That had been last week and now she was back at his home to do her job. The front door is unlocked, not unusual if the Canadian was home. She calls out as she opens the door waiting to her his response from wherever he is in the massive home. Really who needed such a large home for just yourself and a big weird dog. It had to have had at least four bathrooms and five bedrooms in addition to the master suite. The kitchen was huge and filled with the latest kitchen appliances, it was one a gourmet chef would be jealous of. She made her way into the great room and looked around calling out for Matthew once again. She then hears a scratching coming from down the hall that leads off from the great room to the bathroom and study. Curious she follows the sound and sees Kumajirou, Matthew's strange dog, scratching at the bathroom door and whining.

"Do you need something in there Kuma?" She reaches to the knob and opens the door. The sight in the bathroom nearly has her screaming and retching at the same time. Blood. Blood everywhere. And lying in the middle of the crimson pool is Matthew, his hair soaking up the liquid. She quickly backs out of the bathroom and races to grab the cordless phone just around the corner in the great room. She dials 911 and pulls the hand towel from its hanger by the sink.

"What is your emergency?"

"My friend just slit his wrist. I need an ambulance!" She wraps the towel around the arm she sees is bleeding. Only then does she see that he's slit both. "Oh god, he's slit both of them." She begins to cry as the dispatcher tries to tell her what to do. It isn't even five minutes before the ambulance is there and the paramedics are getting him onto a stretcher to go to the hospital. They ask her for his information and she provides it. They don't let her into the ambulance but she makes sure to grab his house keys and wallet from by the front door. Checking that Kumajirou has food in his bowl she hurries out and follows the ambulance to the hospital.

She gets there and they tell her will have to sit in the waiting room. She makes sure to give them any information she can and then settles into a seat.

It is another hour before a doctor comes out and calls for her. "Jeanne Rivers." She stands and walks over to him.

"That's me. Is Matthew, is he going to be alright?"

The doctor looks at her sadly, "We're not sure. We thought we had lost him at one point. Just as we were about to pronounce him dead he started coming back. We have him stabilized now. We were hoping to contact his family, they should be here."

Jeanne frowns. He was right, they should be. "I'm sorry doctor. I don't know how to get ahold of them. Aren't they listed on his emergency contacts or something." She bites her lip. She wasn't even sure she wanted them to know what Matthew had done. She blamed them.

The doctor shakes his head, "No. He doesn't even have a contact number for where he works."

The silence hangs between them for a moment before Jeanne speaks. "His family ignores him and forgets he exists constantly. I think they're why he did this. They didn't even show up for his birthday last week."

The doctor nods, "Then I suppose that makes you the closest to family he has. Follow me." The doctor turns and she follows him down a few halls and then into a room. There is the steady beep beep of the heart monitor and Jeanne sees that they have an iv in his arm. An arm that is wrapped in clean white bandages. The other arm matches. She takes a seat next to the bed and takes his hand. It feels cool to the touch and she notices that he looks paler than he usually does. They had cleaned his hair so it was now free of blood. He looked so young all of a sudden. He didn't look like he was in his mid-twenties anymore but rather in his late teens. She supposed that was because he was unconscious and had relaxed the tenseness that always seemed to envelope him.

The doctor clears his throat to draw her attention. "Ms. Rivers. I'm going to have to ask you to help us out a bit with Mr. Williams. It is hospital policy when a person comes in who has attempted suicide that they go to therapy. I'm sure you can understand why. What I am hoping you can help us with is making sure he goes to his appointments and to also keep an eye on him when he is discharged."

Jeanne nods, "I don't mind. Matthew has a pretty large house, I'm sure he wouldn't mind me staying with him for however long I need to."

It was another hour before Matthew woke up. Jeanne was relieved to see his blue-violet eyes after fearing she would never see them again. "Hey there. How are you feeling?"

The look of confusion that comes over him when she asks him that question worries her but she tries to dismiss it.

"I'm fine. I think. Uh, who are you?"

The question shocks her and she tries to stay calm, "I'm Jeanne Rivers. Your friend."

He still looks confused and glances around the room. "Where are we?"

"The hospital." He must have just been confused by everything. "I found you in your bathroom when I came over earlier today. You had cut yourself." She looks at his arms and he follows her gaze to them, still looking confused.

"Oh." His voice wavers a bit and he looks away from her. "So we're friends?"

"Yes."

"Do, do you remember my name then?"

She looks at him in shock. He didn't know his own name? "It's Matthew, Matthew Williams." When he doesn't respond she moves to stand, "I'm going to go get a nurse or the doctor." She moves to the door and looks back at him before she leaves to do as she said, "Matthew, do you not remember anything?"

He pauses a moment to think on it before shaking his head. "No. I can't remember anything"

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Ah so Matthew has amnesia and only his housekeeper knows anything about him. Let me know what you think and please review.


	2. Chapter 2

Oh wow, great response to the first chapter so far. I had one person comment on not liking OCs and I just want to let that lovely person know I do not plan on making Mattie fall for her or anything. I just needed her as a plot device and she's his one friend. She really originally wasn't even that much. Just a maid he had that found him was how I created her then well I gave her a history. I tend to do that. I like fleshed out characters so sue me.

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It was a week before Jeanne was able to take Matthew home. During that week she had been going to his house to make sure his dog was fed and she also tried to find things to try and jog his memory but he didn't seem to have anything so she was left just telling him what she knew. Jeanne was very careful when she needed to mention his family. Their lack of attention to Matthew was what drove him to this. She didn't want him to try again because he felt they didn't care. even if it was true in her eyes. She did what she could, trying to fill in the blanks, and there were a lot of blanks to fill in.

She also tried to get a hold of his boss. She knew whoever it was must be getting worried but there hadn't been any phone calls and she could find nothing in his study to say where he worked. She tried to remember if he had ever told her where he worked and the only thing she could remember was something about working out of his home. Eventually she had to give up as she slowly began to realize how little she truly knew about her friend.

She pulled up to his house and went around the care to help him out. She was a bit surprised when he had managed to open the door just fine on his own and was already standing beside the car. She looked at him for a moment trying to decide how to take it. Deciding it better to just ask, "Matthew don't your arms still hurt too much to use them?"

He looks at her curiously, then glances down at his arms. "No, they're a little sore but they don't really hurt anymore." He flexes his hand to show her and she reaches out and stops him.

"You shouldn't do that, you might tear the stitches or reopen them or something."

He looks at her in confusion but stops. "Alright."

She seems to relax and leads him inside, calling out for his dog. "Kumajirou."

The strange looking dog waddles out of the great room and looks up at the two coming in. He seems to shrug at them before going back into the room he had just left.

"That is my dog?"

Jeanne nods, "I know. He is the strangest dog I've ever met. I remember the first time I saw him you nearly freaked out. I think you thought I would be scared of him or something. You seemed to relax when I told you I wasn't scared of dogs, even if this one looks a lot like a bear."

They made their way into the great room and Matthew saw how the 'dog' seemed to be watching him carefully with a strange intelligence. It made Matthew nervous. "Why is he watching me like that?"

Jeanne notices what he is talking about and raises an eyebrow at the animal. "No clue, it's a bit creepy isn't it."

As if he understood them the dog snorts and rolls off the couch and to his feet. He then makes his way to the kitchen and out the doggy door in the back door. Both of the people he left behind watch after him, sharing one thought. 'That is one freaky dog.'

Kumajirou was sitting on the pool deck in the Canadian's backyard. He had a thoughtful but concerned look on his face. This was bad in his opinion. It seemed that Canada did not remember himself or anything. He had been watching the human that had come over while his master was away. At first he didn't fully understand what was going on but through overheard conversation he had gathered that something was wrong with the Canadian's memory. The way he had acted today had just confirmed it for the bear. This was going to cause problems. At least this human that was helping Canada knew enough to know how to prepare his food properly.

The bear looks to the sky. What was he going to do now? He lets out a soft sigh. Eventually his boss would come looking for his nation. It seemed Kumajirou needed to decide how to handle that before that happened or it would just cause a whole mess of problems. First thing first he needed to figure out if he could trust the human before he could do anything.

He knew she had come over several times and helped Canada keep the house clean, but they had also spent some time together watching hockey and other sorts of things. It irked the bear that she still thought he was a dog, he had even dropped his glamour a few times around her just to see what would happen and she just waved it off as a trick of the light. He knew she had to have noticed the strangeness of the Canadian's home. He had absolutely no personal photographs, papers or anything just lying around. This was a good thing for a normal nation's home. It kept people from asking too many questions about things that were too difficult to answer. Now however it was only making things more difficult due to their absence. When she had first come back without Canada after he had gone to the hospital the bear had made sure to hide the key to the file cabinet in which the nation kept his work files. They were not something the other needed to find yet. She had been frustrated at not being able to unlock the cabinet but left it alone after a few tries.

As the day began to wane Kumajirou got up and made his way back through his modified doggy door and into the kitchen. He looked around and saw the human at the stove. He walks over to her and paws at her pant leg. She looks down at him and smiles.

"You must be hungry." Giving what ever she was cooking a good stir she goes over to the fridge and pulls out a large salmon filet. She grabs up Kumajirou's bowl and places the salmon into it before grabbing for the maple syrup and smothering the fish with it. "I will never understand why this is ok for you to eat all the time but I remember Matthew telling me that it wouldn't hurt you." She chuckles a bit. "I also remember the way you didn't leave me alone the other day when I didn't put it on there for you. I never thought a dog would ever glare at me. You're so spoiled." She sets the bowl down and rubs his head as he bends down to eat.

Kumajirou was beginning to think he could trust this human to help him get his Canada back.

After the dog had gone outside Jeanne had shown Matthew around his home, hoping that the tour might jog some memories. So far it wasn't working. Matthew though noticed what Jeanne had while she had been looking for things to bring to him in the hospital to jog his memory. It was the complete lack of personal effects throughout the house. Sure there was hockey gear in his closet and a few small knick knacks that were scattered around but they all felt so impersonal. It was like being in a home staged for sale. When they had finished Jeanne left him in the great room while she went into the kitchen to make them dinner. This left Matthew alone with his thoughts.

This was supposed to be his home but he felt like such a stranger in it. It was so cold and indifferent. What kind of person was he before if this was how he lived. Another thing that bothered him was Jeanne's confession earlier that week that she hadn't been able to get ahold of his work or his family at all. Why hadn't anyone tried to contact him then. He had been in the hospital for at least a week and no one had called to leave a message for him or ask where he was. It was so strange.

Matthew reaches up to rub his temple and his arm begins to itch beneath the bandages. Lowering his arm he pulls at the bandages to undo them. They probably needed changed anyway. It had been a few days since they had been last replaced. He remembered the ugly looking cuts running up each arm. There had to have been nearly forty stitches between both arms. The bandages begin to fall from his arm and he stares at his arm in confusion. This wasn't normal was it. He knew he was supposed to go back in a few weeks to have the stitches removed. So he was confused by the near flawless skin of his arm. The only thing marring it was the stitches. He quickly undoes the bandage on his other arm to reveal the same. Shouldn't he at least have a scar or something?

Staring at his arms he slowly stands and walks into the kitchen.

"Jeanne. I think something may be wrong."

"Hmm." She straightens up from having just fed the dog and looks at him. She takes in his bandage-less arms, "Matthew you shouldn't have taken off your bandages. What if you get an infection?" She hurries over to him and is about to take his hand to go rewrap his arms when she really sees them for the first time since he came into the kitchen.

"Wha what?" She takes his arm and turns it this way and that. She runs her fingers up the line of stitches on both arms. "Matthew." Her voice quivers, "Your arms."

"They shouldn't be like this should they?" Matthew looks the other in the eyes when she looks up at him from his arms.

She sees the lost look in his eyes and nods her head. "They shouldn't. There should at least be a scar but..."

While the human had been fussing over Matthew's arms Kumajirou had stopped his meal and waddled around to see what was going on. Oh yeah, he had forgotten that would be another problem. The 'dog' blinks and looks between the two confused people.

"I'm going to call the doctor. He may know what's going on."

This could be bad. She couldn't call a doctor. It would cause trouble for Matthew and the others. He paws at her leg to get her attention. She only glances at him before ignoring him. He scowls, "Normal."

They both stop and Jeanne turns and looks at Matthew.

"That was you just now wasn't it?" She looks a bit scared.

"Want to help. Heal normal. No doctor."

Matthew looks to the human and then down at the 'dog' next to him on the floor. Suddenly it didn't look much like a dog to either.

"I think that was the dog. Uh, Jeanne, he doesn't look like a dog anymore does he? Or maybe I'm loosing what I have left of my mind."

"If you are then so am I."

Kumajirou rolls his eyes. "Polar bear." He watches their faces, neither seems to be freaking out, they just seem to have frozen. "Follow. Can help."

The bear waddles from the kitchen, not followed by the other to immediately he stops and looks over his shoulder at them. "Follow."

The two slowly move, following after the bear. He leads them to the study and goes over to his pet bed in the corner. He digs around for a moment before pulling something out in his mouth. He carries it over to the two standing by Matthew's desk and drops it at their feet. They see then that it is a key. He then goes over to the file cabinet and paws at it. "Open."

Jeanne and Matthew look at each other before Jeanne bends down and picks up the key. Taking it over to the file cabinet she unlocks it. Curious she looks down at the bear hoping for an explanation.

Kumajirou rolls his eyes at her, "Hid. Important papers. Call help."

Still confused the woman opens the top drawer of the cabinet. Inside she sees a bunch of neatly labeled files. She looks them over and realizes that they are government papers. Information on the GDP, census results, reports on everything from healthcare to the economy.

"Matthew I think you must work in the government."

"Really?" He walks up beside her and sees the papers she is looking through.

She nods, "Yeah and pretty high up." She furrows her brow at the thought. "Then why hasn't anyone tried to call you for missing so much work?"

The bear paws at their legs, "Meeting." At their confused looks the bear tries to elaborate. "Travel." Furrowing his own brow in frustrationt he bear waddles over to the desk and pulls at the middle desk drawer. It was locked though so he wasn't able to open it. "Key."

Catching on to what the bear is trying to do Matthew takes the key for the file cabinet and goes over to the desk. The key unlocks the drawer and inside he sees a planner and pulls it out. He opens it up and flips to that week. Every day that week was scrawled over with times and names. He studies it carefully before flipping to the previous page. There on Saturday is a flight time and information written down with 'World Meeting' circled in red.

"What does it say Matthew?"

"I had a bunch of meetings this week I was supposed to leave Saturday."

"But that was four days ago. Why didn't anyone call looking for you?"

"They forget."

Jeanne and Matthew look at the bear again and then Jeanne remembers what Matthew had once told her about the people he works with. "They don't remember you work with them." At Matthew's confused look she elaborates. "You once told me that you are often over looked when you go to work. Your boss never over looks you but I suppose the people you have meetings with don't notice if you aren't there or not."

"But it says its a world meeting. Shouldn't that mean I'm important. I was supposed to be going to a meeting for the G8 and the Arctic Council. Those sound pretty important."

"Wait what?" Jeanne hurries over to him and looks over the pages with his meetings and their times. "Matthew this is, why didn't anyone come looking for you? The G8 means you're like a Canadian ambassador or something. How could you be over looked so easily?"

"I don't know." He slumps and then something catches his eye on the same page as the flight information. "Alfred's birthday was on the fourth."

"Alfred?" The both look confused and wonder who Alfred is. They then look at the bear, who is looking at them, a bit annoyed.

"Brother."

They both get looks of 'oh' on their faces before going back to the panner. "That was the day before you went to the hospital."

"Maybe there is contact information in here." Matthew flips from the page they were on to the front and then back of the planner. He finds an address book in the back and looks for Alfred. He is the first entry but it seemed to be scratched out with insults in both French and English. It was obvious something had caused the Canadian to become rather angry with his brother. Enough so that he had tried to remove him from the address book. The next entry was for someone named Francis.

"Maybe we should call this Francis guy. He may know something."

"No. Don't like." The bear hadn't led them astray yet, so they mentally crossed off that one.

"Arthur?" They look at the bear to see if this one is approved of.

"No. Forgets." Kumajirou realizes that they're just going to keep going until they find one he approves of. Sighing he decides its better to just end it now. "Gilbert. Nice. Talks to Canada."

"Who?" Both look confused at the bear referring to someone named after the country. Oh the irony of their question.

Kumajirou motions to Matthew, "Canada."

"Oh I get it. He calls you Canada, Matthew. That's rather weird."

"He's a talking bear and you find that he calls me Canada the strange part in this?"

"Point taken. Now where's this Gilbert person?"

They look through the list and eventually find him near the end. The pick up the phone and prepare to dial.

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Ah evil cliffhanger time. I'm sorry I meant for this to be longer in reaching this point but I am having a hard time of just giving them filler so we're just going to dive right in. I hope you all liked Kuma's view of things. I know it may be confusing that he seems to talk in code but I'm going with the theory that he is smart for a bear but he still has a language barrier with human languages. So his sentences are a bit incomplete and he has trouble communicating certain things.

Next chapter should be rather interesting. Please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Alright another chapter shall we.

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Gilbert had managed to convince his brother to let him come to the world meeting with him. Ludwig had only agreed though if Gilbert promised to behave during the meetings. This meant that Gilbert was bored out of his mind. Even more so since the cute Canadian seems to have been absent from the meetings. Gilbert knew his birthday had been on the first, just over a week ago, and he hadn't been able to go see the Canadian because his brother had kept him busy at home. But he had gotten his friend a gift and had been planning to give it to him at the meeting. He was AWOL though. It made for a worried and very bored Gilbert.

It had only been a few months since he started talking to Matthew. After he had shown up on April Fools with a bottle of maple syrup Gilbert had all but stalked the poor boy at meetings. He had once caught Russia sitting on him during a meeting and yelled at the larger nation to get off. It resulted in him being chased around with a lead pipe but it got the larger nation off Matthew. Mission success.

So here he was sitting in the meeting where no one seemed to even take notice of the one empty seat and wondering where he was. It wasn't like Matthew to miss a meeting. Gilbert had tried to get him to play hooky with him once or twice but the Canadian had staunchly refused. He was such a goody goody and Gilbert wondered why he kept wanting to spend more time with him. It didn't take him long to realize it was cause the kid was cute and almost as awesome as himself.

Ludwig was currently at the podium droning on about something that sounded important when Gilbert felt his phone vibrate. At first he blinked. Then he pulled it out and saw it was an incoming call. Smirking he answered it, recognizing the number and not caring that he interrupted his brother.

"Hey Birdie. Where you been? Russia hasn't been sitting on you again has he?"

Ludwig had stopped when GIlbert answered his phone, not even trying to keep his voice down.

"Bruder."

Gilbert ignored his brother in favor of the cute blonde that had just called him.

"Um, is this Gilbert?"

"Ja. Hey Birdie, what's wrong? Don't you recognize the awesome me?" This was new, the Canuck sounded odd but it was definitely Matthew. Ludwig must have noticed the look on his face as he stopped trying to get his brother to put the phone away.

"Uh, no. I'm sorry. I just. The bear said I should call you. I've been in the hospital the last week and I was trying to get ahold of where ever it is I work."

GIlbert began to get even more worried when Matthew called his companion 'the bear'. He never was so impersonal about Kumajirou. He may not always remember his name but he always tried. Then the last part of that hit him. "The hospital Matthew?" Gilbert stands, waving his brother off as he heads for the door. "Look I'm gonna catch a plane to your place Matthew."

"Wa wait. Gilbert." The strain in the others voice was something that made Gilbert tense up. It sounded like the other was going to cry. He was just about to push open the door when the Canuck asked a question that made his blood run cold. "Jeanne said I once told her I worked with some of my family. Could you tell them..."

Gilbert looks back at the room, all eyes were on him. He frowned at the room, specifically a set of blondes near the podium.

"Ja Birdie, I'll tell them right now. But I want you to tell me something." He waits for an affirmative from the other end of the line before continuing. "Why were you in the hospital Matthew?" He makes sure to project the question, directing it as much to Matthew as to his family across the room. He heard mutters of who from the other nations. The nordics seemed to show the most recognition aside from Francis and Alfred, both of whom jumped up and made their way around to table to Gilbert at the news.

"Mon petit fils. In the hospital?"

"What happened to Mattie?"

Gilbert ignores the two blondes in favor of hear the response from the one on the phone.

"I," He hesitates, "I tried to kill myself."

Matthew didn't even get a chance to say more as Gilbert all but exploded, "WAS! Why would you do that Birdie!"

There is silence on both ends of the line as Matthew tries to think of how to answer that, "I don't know. I don't remember. The doctor said that since I died on the table for a moment it must have given me brain damage or something I can't remember anything."

"Matthew where are you right now?"

"I'm at my house. My friend Jeanne is here and she's been trying to help me remember stuff but there's nothing here and now the bear's started talking and I don't know what's going on."

"Slow down Birdie. I'm going to come to you. I might even let your bastard family come if they want." He shoots a glare at his friend and Matthew's brother. "Just, I don't know, do whatever Kumajirou tells you to do. He knows more about you than anyone right now. Just damnit, this sort of thing has never happened before. I'll be there as soon as I can." When Matthew says good bye he hangs up the phone. The rest of the world still has their eyes on him and Francis and Alfred are standing beside him wanting answers.

Glaring at them Gilbert runs a hand through his hair. "Yao I want you to come with us. That was Canada. And don't you dare ask who that is." His glare at the oldest nation in the room silences his question. "He tried, He has amnesia and doesn't know anything about himself or what he is right now."

"What? How did that happen?"

"I don't know dummkopf, maybe if you paid more attention to your own brother then he wouldn't be in this mess." He looks over to Arthur, who is looking like he is just figuring out who they are talking about. "Old man you better come with us. We need his whole family and that includes you."

Arthur nods and gets up. The other nations seem to realize this is a very bad thing that has happened and no one protests the small crowd that leaves.

"Alfred you better be calling your fastest plane into action. We're not wasting time on commercial."

Matthew stares at the phone for a moment after the call ended.

"So what did he say?"

"He said to listen to Kumajirou." They both look at the bear. "And that he will be here soon. He's going to bring my family. He also sounded pretty upset."

"Yeah, I heard." She looks at Matthew with concern, "I hope this help. The doctor said familiar places and people should help you get your memory never talked about anyone named Gilbert. Though you never mentioned anyone's names actually."

"I wonder why not."

They stand in silence before moving back to the kitchen to eat.

Gilbert refused to answer any questions about what was going on until they were all settled on the plane and on their way to Ottawa.

"Gilbert, mon ami, what has happened to Matthieu?"

Gilbert keeps his lips sealed tight for a moment and then answers, "He tried to kill himself."

The gasps from the nations in the cabin of the plane are deafening.

"Wh what? Why would he do that?" The frenchman seems the most concerned at the news, though Alfred is a close second.

"Oh I don't know could it have anything to do with the fact it took a fucking week for you to even realize he wasn't at the meeting." If looks could kill.

The others fidgeted before Yao clears his throat. "So why did you want me to come along with you?"

"You're the oldest. I want to know if this sort of thing has ever happened before. Mattie said he was dead on the table for a few moments but must have come back. I don't know about you but I've never seen a nation die before the country they represented did. I'm guessing he did die and then came back because the country of Canada is still strong."

He looks at the others, waiting to see if they have anything to say.

"Mattie died." Alfred slumps into a seat and Francis looks as though he may fall apart at the news.

"But, you said he did not stay dead?"

"No, obviously not. But I think its why he forgot everything." Gilbert looks at Yao, hoping for an explanation.

"I think you are correct. We try to pretend we are human and thus we don't go running out to die like our lives our disposable. No one has ever tried to test the limits of our immortality. I'm sorry I can not be of more help than that."

The nations sit in silence for the remainder of the flight. Barely making chit chat.

Later that night Matthew and Jeanne hear the doorbell ring and a few raised voices outside the door. Curious Jeanne gets up and answers the door.

"Hello."

"You must be Jeanne." The man at the front of the group on Matthew's front porch is tall and has white hair and red eyes.

"Yes, that's me. And you are?"

"I'm Gilbert. Is Matthew here?"

She nods and opens the door to invite them all in. She looks over the group as they come in. There are two tall blondes that bare a resemblance to Matthew, one of them must be his brother. Another, shorter blonde, follows them. He has the bushiest eyebrows Jeanne had ever seen. The last to come in is an Asian man with long black hair held back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. She closes the door and follows them into the great room.

"Mattie!" One of the tall blondes, the one with shorter hair, is in the process of hugging Matthew. He looks nervous and confused and casts his eyes around for help.

"Oi, get off him dummkopf. He doesn't remember you." The albino hauls the energetic blonde off Matthew, then holds his hand out to him. "I'm Gilbert, just so you know. The idiot blonde that I just pulled off of you is your dumbass brother, Alfred. The one with the long blonde hair and the pervy air about him is Francis. I guess he's sort of your dad." 'Hey!' "The one with the monstrous eyebrows is Arthur, your other dad. Don't eat anything he cooks for you. We're trying to get it listed as a chemical weapon." 'Bloody hell! My cooking isn't that bad!' "The Chinese guy back there is Yao. I had him come along cause well I hoped he'd be able to give us answer about what happened. He's the oldest of us and has seen the most."

Jeanne and Matthew look over the odd group and nod.

"Um, I do have one question before we try anything else." At Gilbert's nod he holds out his arms, the stitches in the unmarred skin a strange sight. "Is this normal?"

They all look at his arms and their reactions vary from a wince to paling.

"You, mon dieu, Matthieu. You cut yourself so much."

He pulls his sleeves down to cover his arms.

"Yeah its normal. For our kind at least."

"Our kind?" Matthew looks at them confused, Jeanne does as well.

The nations glance at Jeanne nervously, no one wanting to say too much in her presence. Kumajirou waddles over to her though and lays his head on her lap. "Trust. Good lady."

Well that was enough for Gilbert. "We're Immortals. We are the human representations of the nations of the world. You Matthew are the nation of Canada."

Matthew just stares and Jeanne's jaw is nearly on the floor.

"You can not be serious. You expect us to believe that?" Jeanne looks slightly angry, her disbelief quickly being replaced.

"I am afraid that mon ami is quite serious cheri." Francis was actually rather serious and composed for this.

"We can call the Prime Minister and have him confirm it for you if you wish. I could even call the queen." Jeanne looked at Arthur.

"Jeanne it does make a weird sort of sense. I mean we couldn't find anything around the house that could help me remember. The bear talks and then there's my arms."

"But, this is just ridiculous Matthew. Personified nations. Really?"

Alfred steps forward taking off his jacket and undoing his shirt.

"Bloody hell Alfred! What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going to show her some of my scars."

"You guys are claiming to be immortal and Matthew's arms are scar free after, well you saw them."

"Mortal wounds don't last long." Alfred finishes removing his shirt and turns to show her his back. It was criss-crossed with thin scars over the whole expanse. "When something effects our nation though we are left with the scars. This is from the Civil War."

Jeanne and Matthew look at his scar covered back and Matthew actually takes his hand up to his chest, placing his hand over his heart. Arthur catches the motion and winces a bit, "The war of 1812, the burning of York."

Jeanne looks at Matthew and sees the belief in his eyes.

"I got a matching one from when you burned DC." Alfred turns to face them again and points to a nasty looking scar over his heart.

Jeanne looks at Matthew then back at the gathered men, nations, in the room. Sighing in defeat she throws up her arms, "Fine. I believe you." Then she points and glares at Alfred and the other two blondes, "But don't think I'm forgiving you."

At the accusatory look from the young woman the blondes just look confused.

"Um, ok. But what did we do?" Alfred decides to just go ahead and ask, shooting a glance at Gilbert in the hopes he knows why the woman seems to not like them.

"Because this is all your fault. Matthew at least remembered your birthday but you completely forgot his." The look she sent them was like she wanted them to burst into flames.

"Ah shit!" Gilbert begins patting down his pants like he's looking for something. Eventually he pulls out a small box from his pocket and hands it to Matthew. "Got so caught up in all this crazy shit I forgot to give this to you. I wanted to be here last week but West was being a bitch and made me help him clean the house." Matthew takes the box looking confused. "I was planning to give it to you at the meeting but I couldn't find you. Birdie if I had known..."

Matthew shakes his head and smiles up at the albino. "Its alright. At least you thought of me."

Gilbert smiles down at the blonde, "Well go ahead and open it. It's not much but, yeah."

Matthew unwraps the box and then opens it. He smiles a bit more when he sees the keychain inside. It was a little maple leaf with a bottle of maple syrup and a white bear. "Thank you."

Gilbert beams at him, "Awesome right." Remembering the other doesn't remember much if anything he fills in, "Its cause you and I got to know each other after you gave me a bottle of maple syrup on April Fools Day."

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Terrible way to end this but it just keeps going and I need it to end so I can just post it already. This is not the end don't worry. So please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Been a while since I worked on this but I think I have an idea of what I want to have happen. so let's not dawdle and just go.

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Alfred felt terrible. He hadn't even noticed Matthew wasn't at the meeting until Gilbert had asked why he was in the hospital. What made it worse was finding out why. And when they had actually gotten to his brother's house and were explaining things to him he felt even more like shit at the girl's, Jeanne's, accusation that it was their fault this had happened. He was going to argue until she mentioned their birthdays. He just hung his head in shame when he realized she was right. He hadn't even called, too caught up in planning his own party. What kind of brother was he?

After Gilbert had given his gift to Matthew they decided that they would continue this all in the morning. That was when they realized that some of them were going to have to share rooms. Matthew would obviously get his room to himself. Jeanne would also have a room to herself. Yao refused to share, so he had a room to himself. Gilbert grabbed Francis and headed off. He apparently had a room that was more or less his within the house and wasn't in the mood to deal with Francis being Francis. That left one room for Alfred and Arthur.

"Well it wouldn't be the first time would it?" Alfred rubs the back of his head and laughs nervously.

"That was ages ago and you were still a child then."

"Aw, come on Iggy. I won't bite you or anything."

Alfred grins and drags Arthur to the last guest room.

In the morning Gilbert found Jeanne in the kitchen preparing breakfast for everyone and sat himself down at the table to watch her.

"Morning. Matt up yet?"

She looks back at him and nods. "He's in his study seeing if anything there will jog his memory."

Gilbert winces, remembering the conclusion they came to while on their way there about his memory. "He may never get it back."

"What do you mean? Of course he'll get it back, the doctor said it was just from the trauma of the situation." She seemed to be scowling at the pan she was using to make scrambled eggs.

Gilbert takes a deep breath, rubbing his neck before answering. "Matt said he'd died on the table or something while they were trying to save him."

"They almost pronounced him dead but he came back on his own."

Gilbert looks up at her, "Yeah, that's never happened before. Nations don't just get amnesia and usually when they do, well its caused by serious upheaval of the lands they represent. We also don't go around killing ourselves regularly, so this amnesia could very well be permanent."

Jeanne has turned to look at Gilbert as he finished speaking. "But you don't know for sure?"

"No."

"Then he could still remember."

Gilbert looks her in the eyes, "Do you want him to remember? After meeting the family that forgot him. This suicide attempt, let's just say that this is the only time I've heard of something like this happening amongst our kind. From what you said last night it seems they forgot his birthday. How many times have they done that I wonder? How many decades? If he gets his memory back, he may just try again and I really doubt any counseling he has to go to will be able to fix this problem."

"So we just have to make them remember him."

Gilbert blinks at her suggestion, then smiles. "You're right." He watches her thoughtfully for a moment. "Hmm, I wonder if he still has a muscle memory." Gilbert stands up and heads for the stairs. "I'm going to go and get Alfred up and we'll test that."

"Gilbert?" He pauses and looks back at her. "I know this may be rude, but what nation do you represent. The only one I know for sure is Alfred, he's the United States. I think Francis and Arthur might be France and England but."

"It's not that rude, I'm," He chuckles a bit, "I used to be Prussia, but I'm East Germany now." At her blank look he just shrugs. "Sometimes we're even confused by how things work." At her nod he leaves to fetch Alfred.

Once everyone ate breakfast Gilbert pulls out a couple sports bags with hockey gear. Then he grabs Alfred and Matthew and heads for the door.

"Come on, time to see if we can jog that memory of yours Birdie. We're going to try recreating the olympics."

"Wait what?" Alfred didn't seem to amused by Gilbert's plan. "No way. I am never playing hockey against him again. Dude, I was laid up for two weeks after the olympics."

Matthew looks at his brother confused as Gilbert just grins wider.

"Well I guess I could just call Ivan and have him come to play against Birdie if you don't want to."

"Oh no, he'll play." Arthur was standing up and pushing Alfred out the door. "We don't need Ivan showing up and trying anything."

They continued out to the car, with only slight protest from Alfred along the way. They got everyone loaded into Jeanne's Car as well as the rental they had gotten when they arrived before heading for the rink that Gilbert had reserved.

When they got to the rink Gilbert dragged Alfred and Matthew, with their gear, into the locker rooms to get ready. Everyone else found a spot in the bleachers to wait for them to come out. It didn't seem to take very long before All three were out on the ice. Gilbert had opted to stay on the ice as a referee of sorts during the game. His argument being that Matthew had been teaching him to play. The small crowd that was watching noticed that Matthew seemed a bit unsure about playing. He seemed to relax when Gilbert went over the game briefly, explaining it to him so he wouldn't be too lost.

It wasn't really all that necessary, shortly after the puck was dropped to the ice Matthew was slamming into Alfred and taking the puck. He raced it down the ice and slapped it into the goal. When Gilbert blew the whistle, signifying the goal, Matthew seemed to snap out of the state he had been in and looked around a bit in confusion.

Alfred groans, only then getting up from the ice, "Damn Mattie, this is why I hate playing you." He rubs his back, "Seriously, its like the only time you don't hold back."

"I, I'm sorry Alfred. You aren't hurt too bad are you?" Matthew skates over to Alfred and looks him over worriedly.

"He'll be fine Bridie. The kid can take a hit, isn't that right Alfred?"

Alfred grumbles something in the affirmative before Gilbert is having them start again. The game continues on for another half hour and by the end of Matthew seems to have gotten some of his confidence in the game back. Gilbert smiled to himself. This seemed to be working. First he had to make it so his family would stop over looking him. He glances up at the seats where they were sitting. He knew it wouldn't be hard to get Francis to remember the Canadian, he never failed to recognize him as it was. He was just easily distracted, putting important dates in a calendar was enough for the Frenchman. alfred would only need a few hard knocks to get it ingrained in his thick head. Arthur was the real problem. He'd seen him forget the boy in the middle of a conversation. He would need to know more about how he could so easily forget the boy. He needed to know when it started.

Once he was sure the family wouldn't forget him, he'd start on the rest of the nations. Some would be easier than others. He'd probably want to start with the Nordics, they found him first right. Plan in place Gilbert smiled. He'd make them remember Matthew, no questions asked.

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Oh hope this is up to your standards. Its a bit short, but at least its something. Please review.


	5. Chapter 5

Yeah another chapter. So let's just get on with it.

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Matthew was very confused. It had been a week since he had been let out of the hospital, Yao had left after that first night. And it seemed that Gilbert and Jeanne had teamed up to do something. He knew it involved him and his family, but heaven knew what it was exactly. When he had gone for his counseling, ordered by the hospital, Gilbert had insisted that his family be involved in it. Especially Arthur. Needless to say it hadn't gone well. He had just sat there as his family dissolved into chaos. Francis had been trying to stick his hands down everyone's pants while Arthur just yelled at him. Alfred had nearly fallen to the floor laughing. When he had tried to interject and get things back on track for the psychologist they had simply ignored him. He had clutched the couch cushion closer to himself before the doctor nearly threw the three trouble makers out of the room. The doctor seemed to have noticed how his family over looked him and, even with amnesia, seen how it affected the young man. When the appointment was over Matthew had made his way out to the waiting area where his family and friends were waiting. Gilbert had quickly gotten up and spoken with the doctor. Jeanne had been scowling at the three blondes but got up and gave him a hug when he approached. They had scheduled the next appointment and then left.

After they had gotten back to his house Gilbert had insisted on Matthew making pancakes. This had ended in disaster, or nearly in disaster. It seemed he had taken the time to write out the directions for making pancakes and stuck it to the fridge. He had watch Gilbert frown when he saw the recipe had been addressed to him. Matthew had figured he must have done that because Gilbert must have really liked his pancakes. He had followed the directions exactly and the pancakes were really good. He had even noticed that it seemed so familiar to make them, he hadn't needed to look for anything either. It was like he knew where everything in the kitchen was. It was nice. And it made him feel less awkward.

They had spent the rest of the week going over things that Gilbert insisted he would remember or at least have muscle memory of. Everything did seem so familiar but it was like a ghost at the edge of his mind. He just couldn't grasp anything solid. It was somewhat discouraging. The lead to where he was now. Confused. Gilbert had said he was going to invite some of his other friends over and had left for the airport an hour ago, leaving Matthew with Jeanne and his family. Francis had told him that the friends that GIlbert was picking up were actually more nations. The Nordic nations to be exact. He'd been told that he knew them from the Arctic Council and they also played hockey together.

Matthew found himself looking over at Arthur, his father. He seemed a bit worse for ware coming out of the past week. Whenever he had started to forget about Matthew Gilbert or Jeanne had smacked him, given him a glare and drawn his attention to the Canadian. It did seem to be working though, the Brit was forgetting him less and less.

About that time the front door opens and he hears Gilbert talking with someone.

"So I told you what we know so far."

"Which isn't very much."

"Hey! Where's jerk England? You told me he was here."

"P't'r b'h'v y'rs'lf."

"Matthew!"

Matthew soon found himself wrapped up in the arms of a shorter blonde man with a rather motherly aura about up he sees five others standing next to Gilbert. One was very tall and slightly intimidating. He wore glasses and a long blue coat. In front of him was a scowling boy in a sailor suit, the taller man had a hand on the boy's shoulder as if holding him in place. Next to them was a young man, about the same height as the one hugging him. His hair was paler and held back by a cross shaped hair clip, he also wore a rather cold expression on his face. Beside him was another tall blonde with spiky and wild looking hair. He wore a long black coat. The last person standing beside Gilbert was a boy only slightly older than the one in the sailor suit. He wore a brown suit and his eyes were a rather interesting shade of violet while his hair was nearly white.

Unsure of what to do he gently pats the back of the young man hugging him. "Erm, hello?" THe young man looks up at him and Matthew finds himself staring into watery blue-violet eyes. Suddenly Matthew found himself spinning and dizzy, his vision fading to nearly black before he finds himself looking back into those same eyes. Rather than looking down at them though he feels he is looking up at them. He feels himself getting set down and sudden;y it is as though he is only a foot or so tall. He watches the young man, who seems younger and is dressed in furs, walk back to where the other, save the boy in the sailor suit, are gathered near a boat. They are all dressed in furs, the two tallest have helmets on their heads.

"We'll return Vinland, just wait." He feels himself nodding before it all fades to black again and he finds himself staring up into Gilbert's red eyes.

"Matt, Birdie you ok? Come on snap out of it."

He blinks his eyes and sits up, looking around his eyes fall on the new visitors. It was confusing to him, what was that?

"D, did you leave me? Why did you leave me?" He could feel the tears stinging his eyes and spilling down his face. This caused Jeanne, who he hadn't noticed behind him, to lean forward and wrap her arms about his shoulders in comfort. He leaned into. He was hurt and confused and for a moment felt as if he was a child. He just wanted answers. Such as why, even after trying so hard to remember anything at all, looking into that man's eyes gave him such a painful memory.

The group of newcomers seemed to be a bit uneasy at the question, the one that had hugged him even seemed guilty. Gilbert, Alfred, Arthur and Francis seemed confused though.

"I thought you said he had amnesia or some shit?" It was the tall blonde with spiky hair.

"Shut up Anko." The one with the hair clip scowled at the tall blonde before turning to Matthew, his gaze softening.

"Matthew, we're sorry. We wanted to come back, but..." It was the man that had been hugging him, the tallest one had wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

"W' d'dn' h'v a ch'ce." He looks to the man in the black coat.

"I'm sorry. geez. I can't help that my boss pulled us out of Vinland. We were spreading too thin. He almost made us give up Greenland too. If you're gonna be made at anyone be mad at me for not putting up more of a fight."

Matthew seemed to understand this. From what he knew so far a nations boss was their ruler. So that meant that it was someone long dead that had pulled them away from him. It was still upsetting but they obviously had less power than he ma have originally thought.

"What the bloody hell are you wankers talking about?"

"Yeah yeah, what do you mean you left Mattie? And what's Vinland?"

Gilbert seemed to have scrunched up his face a bit during the conversation. He looks over to Francis to see how he is taking this. Before anyone can toss in their two cents though the blonde with the hair clip is answering.

"Vinland was what the vikings called Canada when they first came here around 1000 CE. We beat that idiot Columbus to the new world by 500 years. It seems most everyone seems to forget that though. We couldn't stay though and Denmark's boss made us leave."

That caused the others to blink.

"So wait, I thought Mattie was my little bro. You mean to say he's actually older than me?"

"No shit Sherlock. You were born when England there started colonizing, at the earliest it was Spain, either way Canada has 500 years on you."

"I'm sorry Matthew. I really tried to come back but I couldn't, not on my own." He looks down at his lap. "When we heard about the New World Su-san and I came over and tried looking for you. That was about the time Arthur found Alfred."

"S'rry. W' c'ldn' f'n y' wh'n w' c'm b'k."

"And then France found you."

"Ah, I remember now. You wanted to speak with petit Matthieu after I took him in."

The two blondes nod.

"Yes, we spoke with you then and explained things. I don't know why you remember any of that now."

It was the blonde with the hair clip that then spoke up. "Prussia, you said he had gotten amnesia from dyeing on the table."

"Ja. They almost declared him dead."

The tall blonde in black sighs and nods at the shorter blonde with the hair clip. "We don't really advertise it but being a viking wasn't as easy as you would imagine. It was very dangerous and, to be honest I kept this from the others for his sake. It actually happened shortly after we got back from Vinland. Denmark died. He was attacked by his own crew, a mutiny. They felt he wasn't worthy to be their leader during one of the raids on England. He didn't stay dead but it took a while for him to remember everything."

"And you covered for him?"

"What else could I do? he was Denmark, he was the superpower of that time. If the other nations had known think how things would have turned out."

"So, you didn't come back for me because you were dealing with that on top of his boss's orders?"

The blonde nods. Matthew fidgets in his seat.

"I'm not mad. I'm glad to hear I'll be getting my memories back. But why start with that one?"

"Earliest memories will come first. You should have most back within fifty or so years. You have a lot of history to remember though. More maybe than Denmark at the time of his death, it could take longer."

"Isn't there any way to speed this up? I already feel like I have to relearn everything."

The blonde looks to Arthur, "If I can get Arthur's help we may be able to try something, but there's no telling if it will work. It could also be dangerous so we'd need to look into it first."

"What do you mean?"

"Norway, are you saying we could use magic to draw out his memories?"

The blonde with the clip, Norway, nods. "I did the research when Denmark's memory was recovering. He gained them back before I finished but I kept the notes in case it happened again."

"You know what, even though this sounds slightly absurd I'll give it a try." Matthew said, nervous, but still sure.

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Hey, that was completely unexpected. And I hope I got Berwald's accent right. If not let me know, I'll fix it. Yay for research so yeah, had to look a few things up, such as the reason the Vikings didn't stay in Vinland. Anyway please review.


	6. Chapter 6

So this seems to be coming to me more easily right now so yay! By the way I should point out that I currently am my own beta and I am noticing many typos in most of these chapters. I will go about fixing those and please if you see any in the future, review and let me know so I can fix them.

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Gilbert didn't know how to react to Norway's proclamation that they could bring Matthew's memories back more quickly then just letting them all come back on their own, which could take fifty or more years. It was almost too good to be true, but then he realized he'd only told the nordics that Matthew had died and gotten amnesia, but not how he died. He'd need to talk to Norway before he got too carried away. It may be better to let this happen naturally.

While Gilbert was thinking the nordics had taken the time to introduce themselves to Matthew and Jeanne.

"And I'm Sealand! The most powerful nation to ever exist!"

Matthew and Jeanne just stare at the boy as he proclaims his identity.

"I know my memory is well non existent, but I think I would have been informed of somewhere like Sealand if it was so powerful."

"Don't feel bad Matthew, I've never heard of it either."

"That's because he isn't a bloody nation."

"I am so a nation you jerk! And one day I will show you just how powerful I am."

Arthur gives the boy a scathing look before Sweden pulls the boy back to him and picks him up.

"W' sh'ld b' g'in, 'ts P't'r's b'dt'm."

Finland stands up beside him, nodding.

Matthew looks at them a bit confused, "Aren't you staying here?"

Finland smiles at him, "No Gilbert made us reservations at a hotel, we already dropped our bags off there. He told us that your house was pretty full with your family staying here."

It was true though, even though Jeanne had been going home at night now that Gilbert and Matthew's family was here, there still weren't any spare beds.

"Oh, I suppose that's true."

"Don't worry, we'll be back in the morning." Norway then proceeded to get Denmark up and a nod at Iceland had all the nordics leaving for the evening.

Not long after Jeanne was being waved off as she headed home for the night, again with the promise to be there first thing in the morning to help out with everything.

Gilbert flopped down onto his bed in the guest room he had claimed. He was disgruntled because he hadn't gotten a chance to pull England and Norway aside to talk about this whole thing with bringing memories back. It was enough that it was already dangerous to begin with. added to that his concerns about an unprepared Matthew regaining his memories of why he killed himself. Needless to say it caused Gilbert to feel less than awesome.

Letting loose a sigh Gilbert stares up at the ceiling, there were too many ways this could go wrong.

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In his own room Matthew was tossing and turning, trying to get to sleep and failing.

'Heh, why even try remembering? as soon as you do they'll forget you again. Just like they were doing before.'

'Don't give in! They won't forget you. Matthew, don't let him win!'

The two voices continued to argue. Back and forth. Trying to sway the confused Canadian to their point of view.

'If he won't listen to me then I'll show him.'

It was the darker voice. And suddenly Matthew felt his body moving but he was not the one making it move. He moved over to a mirror and Matthew took in the site of a monster. It was him, but the expression was dark and twisted. Angry. It scared the Canadian that his face could become like that. Then they went into the bathroom where the dark one in control of Matthew's body opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of scissors. Grinning wickedly he turns from the mirror in the bathroom and leads them out to the hall and down towards the guest rooms. They open the door and Matthew sees his brother asleep on the bed. He tries to call out a warning, fearing what he may do to the other, but his voice is locked inside with him. He struggles to gain control of his body once again as they creep closer to the sleeping American. His hand raises to strike and in the moment as it is brought down Matthew regains some control and redirects the blow to hit the empty space of the bed. He can tell he pissed off whatever the dark voice was as it raises its arm once more.

The sharp blow to the bed next to him did manage to stir the sleeping blonde, for which Matthew was grateful. But even as he saw Alfred open his eyes he felt his body going in for another blow. He tried to stop it once again but the dark voice had strengthened his control. Alfred's eyes widen at the approaching blade and he rolls away, the scissors just missing hitting him as he tumbles to the floor.

"Mattie!"

Alfred takes in his brother's fierce expression and has a brief flash back to 1814 when the two were at war and Matthew had been burning Washington. Those were not good memories. Before another word could be spoken though Matthew was lunging over the bed at him and swinging the sharpened blade at his throat. Alfred lets loose a startled cry as he brings his hands up to defend himself.

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Gilbert was still lying awake in bed when he heard a thud followed by a sharp cry and sounds of a struggle coming from the room next to his. Confused he thinks about who was in there and remembers it was Alfred.

"What on earth is that dummkopf doing?" Rolling himself out of bed he makes his way to the neighboring room to find the door open wide and what looks like Matthew and Alfred fighting. Gilbert watches for a moment in confusion until he sees the glint of metal in Matthew's hand and realizes this isn't just a playful wrestle between brothers. Gilbert all but throws himself at the pair grabbing Matthew around the shoulders and using his weight to pull and pin the paler blonde off his brother. A loud curse and a short struggle later before Gilbert has Matthew subdued. The blonde then goes limp in Gilbert's arms, his eyes drifting closed before he slowly opens them, still limp, but shaking slightly.

Matthew had managed to regain control with the help of the kinder of the two voices. It didn't make him feel any better that he was apparently going insane but being in control of his own body was good enough for now. He was grateful for the arms that held him securely and had pulled him off his brother. The surprise had been enough for him to retake control from the dark voice. He was still scared though, scared it might come back and try that again.

"Al..." His voice is small and scared as he looks into his brother's shocked face. His brother who had been the only one with a clear view of his face once Gilbert had grabbed the Canadian and pulled him off. It went from being rabid with rage to scared and tearful with hardly a blink of the eye. It was unnatural.

"I I'm scared." The two in the room stare at the small blonde, worry making itself evident on both their faces.

"Alfred go wake Francis and Arthur. Matt and I will meet you three downstairs." Matthew turns and sees it was Gilbert that had stopped him and was even more grateful to the albino for all he had been doing.

"Are you sure that's a good idea. I mean what if..."

"Just go. I'll shout out if I need help."

Alfred nods and stands, he reaches the door and spares a glance back at the two still on the floor before leaving the room completely.

Gilbert sees the scissors still gripped tightly in Matthew's hand and gently pries his fingers from the steel and tossing them aside.

"Do you think you can walk Birdie?"

"I, yeah I can walk." Gilbert helps Matthew up and the two make their way to the living room, Gilbert going into the kitchen to get some water for the blonde. He hands it Matthew and he takes it thankfully. They sit in silence as Matthew sips the water until Alfred, Arthur and Francis make their way down the stairs and into the living room. Alfred sits as far from Matthew as he can while Francis and Arthur look only half awake and confused.

"Why 'ave you two woken us up? It is very early."

Gilbert looks at Alfred for an explanation as Matthew tightens his grip on the glass in his hands.

"I don't even know and I was there the whole time. Mattie just came in my room swinging a pair of scissors around and trying to kill me."

That seemed to wake up the two European nations.

"He tried to do what?"

"Alfred are you sure it was not just a dream?"

"If it was a dream Franny then I must have been sleeping two cause the noise woke me up and I went to see what was going on. When I got to Alfred's room he was just barely holding Matthew off."

The blondes all glance at the Canadian nervously, unsure if he was subdued. Gilbert is the only one that doesn't seem worried.

"Birdie, what were you doing in your brother's room? You went limp and stopped fighting not long after I got a hold of you. So what gives?"

"I..." His voice cracks and he sips at the water, "I don't know. I was just trying to fall asleep in my room when there were these voices. They were fighting and one of them said he was going to show me something and the next thing I know I have no control over myself. He walks me to Al's room and. I tried to stop him, myself but..." Matthew breaks down crying, the glass tipping and almost falling if not for Gilbert's quick hands.

Apparently things could get worse than they already were. Matthew was hearing voices. and at least one of them was trying to kill Alfred not more than fifteen minutes ago.

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Ok so a lot just happened here huh. Tell me what you think. I may rewrite this and get rid of the crazy Matthew part if people don't like it so much. I just have so many different ways I could take this story and all are outlined. I just can't decide between them. Well review.


	7. Chapter 7

Not a lot of response on the whole crazy Canadian thing I got going, but I'm rolling with it.

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Matthew didn't know what to think. After he had told the others what had happened from his point of view, Arthur had made them clear a space in the kitchen for him to draw a circle with a bunch of weird symbols in it. He had then directed Matthew to stand in the center of the circle. Gilbert, Francis and Alfred stood out of the way but near enough to help if Matthew were to snap again.

They had tried to call the Nordics, but no one had answered so Arthur had decided he'd try something. Needless to say everyone was just a bit nervous. They didn't really believe in all this magic mumbo-jumbo but they didn't have any other options for this right now. Gilbert was convinced this had to do with Matthew's attempt at killing himself and the others weren't exactly jumping to contradict him.

Arthur had told them he might be able to find the source of the voices that Matthew was hearing and had set them in motion for the ritual he was about to attempt. He began to chant and the circle slowly began to glow with a soft green light. Not knowing what to expect Arthur had made sure to draw the circle so that if anything were to be called or released within it that it would not be able to escape the circle. He wasn't worried about whatever it was harming Matthew as it most likely would remain in his body.

The glow intensified and Matthew looked somewhat worried about what was happening. He was beginning to feel strange, itchy even. He fidgeted in his spot and looked around at the others in the kitchen. The voices had been rather quiet since he had regained control but once the glowing started he could 'feel' them in his mind and it made him feel like something was wrong. Which given that he knew at least one of the voices was out to hurt people wasn't so strange. The weird part about the whole thing was that he had the distinct impression that there were three voices in his head that were not his own. One he could tell was the kind voice that had helped him regain control, then there was the dark voice that had tried to kill Alfred. The last presence in his mind that felt foreign was a quiet presence, almost invisible.

The circle seemed to shine like a star before faltering for a moment and then there was a contraction of the light before it seemed to explode outward, knocking those outside of the circle to the ground. With a bit of groaning on the part of the bystanders and the caster of the spell the four men managed to situated themselves to look into the circle. The explosion of light had created a bit of dust that was just beginning to settle and reveal the figure in the circle to them. Or rather, the figures. As it became apparent that there were now several forms spread about on the floor within the circle.

They watched silently as first one and then the rest began to move with groans and grunts.

"Maple! What just happened?" The voice was soft and slightly higher pitched than they had remembered but they knew the expression was Matthew's.

"Stupid hoser... Hmm maybe this could work out for me." A harsh and deep voice emerged as the dust finally settled allowing the others to take in who was now in the circle.

Nearest to Arthur knelt Matthew exactly as he had been when he went into the circle, maple leaf pajamas and all. To the left of him was another Matthew, this one dressed in a blue version of the Canadian military dress uniform. Additionally this Matthew wore a rather scary expression on his face reminiscent of Russia's 'happy' face. To the original Matthew's right was a younger version of Matthew dressed in a blue shirt with a brown vest over it and brown slacks, it was the outfit he had worn through most of the 19th century. Finally opposite the original Matthew in the circle was a small boy dressed in skins. Loose leather pants with fringe down the sides. A long sleeved leather shirt, moccasins on his feet and feathers and beads tied into his hair. He looked like a native version of Matthew but in miniature.

The native version of Matthew shot a sharp glance at the version in the military uniform that just screamed 'try something and I will hurt you'. The military version just scoffed and nudged the last body to stir, which was the original version of Matthew.

"Wakey wakey sleeping beauty."

The others in the room watched as Matthew sat up with a groan and peaked up at them. He had yet to see the others behind him.

"Di did it work?"

When all Matthew got was silence in return to his question he figured that whatever Arthur had done must not have worked, then again he didn't hear or even 'feel' those voices in his head, so maybe. Suddenly there was a face thrust into his own and he flings himself back and away from it in shock then he registers the image of the face. Eyes widening in shock as he takes in his dark doppleganger, the expression mirroring the one he had seen in the mirror earlier that night. It was himself but so different.

"Come on then, let's duke it out to see who gets control here." An evil smile spreads over his face as he makes a lunge for the original Matthew. However the military dressed version finds himself stopped in his attack as a spear is thrust over Matthew's shoulder and nearly into the face of the one attacking.

"You will not." Despite being from a child the voice was full of wisdom and carried a heavy weight to it. The military dressed man backed off before turning to look at the audience the four have.

"Well well, looky here.' He locks eyes with Alfred and grins, "Since they won't let me have fun with little Matthew there maybe I can finish what I started earlier."

Alfred, Francis, Gilbert and Arthur had managed to get to their feet and watched in shock as the Matthew dressed in military fashion approached, making a beeline for Alfred. The advance is stopped though when he reaches the edge of the circle and is held back from crossing out by whatever force is still present within. His angry gaze then swings toward the brit, who gulps.

"Let me out of here hoser, I have an American to kill."

Arthur met his gaze but didn't back down from it even when he laid out his intentions, causing Alfred to let out a squeak of panic and cower behind Francis.

"I can't do that. If you intend to harm any here you'll stay right where you are."

The dark Matthew nearly growls in frustration at the answer to his demand. "Then I'll just kill my prison mates. After all you can't let them out without letting me out. That means they stay in here with me."

He turns on the other three Matthews, the smaller two having helped the original to his feet during the exchange between the dark one and those outside the circle. The spear is once again placed between the dark Matthew and the others in the circle. The 19th century version also placed himself between the two.

"You won't win War. It's two against one."

The newly named 'War' just let out a chuckle, dark and deep. "Oh and Matthew there isn't going to play with you. Colony, you and Hunter may have me outnumbered but Matthew there is a handicap that you two can't afford."

The spear is thrust forward and War backs up with a scowl.

"We do have a weapon that gives us better odds War."

With the four in the circle at a seeming stand off the smallest, who they could only assume was 'Hunter' turned his attention to those outside the circle. "Summon Norge here, now." Despite his English being broken the others understood it enough and Francis moved to grab the phone and make another attempt at reaching the Nordics.

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Ok I want to make this longer but this is a good stopping point, that and the four Matthews are confusing even me and I'm writing them. You'll find out more about them in the next chapter which I hope to get out soon. Please review.


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